Loss Of The Best

Have just had one of those awful events in life in which all one can say is ‘this is unbelievable’. One of the finest people I know passed away suddenly. N was 34 years old with a wife and daughter, and was one of the most liked and respected members of the local PD. I’ve known Sergeant N for 7 years and in that time I’ve run into him countless times in the line of both of our work. He’s brought in people under arrest who needed medical clearance for incarceration or psychiatric admission. I’ve restrained out of control patients with him (he complimented my knot tying skills). I’ve participated in Codes with him. I’ve been through Critical Incident Debriefings with him and watched him cry over the senseless death of a child.  Without fail he was kind and good natured to everyone even drunk or high idiots who trash-talked him, but he wouldn’t let them trash-talk us.  He was so funny, when he’d come into the ED for something he wore these cool shades, and had this way of walking that was kind of a strut, so I called him Hollywood. After me calling him Hollywood for a while, years maybe, he finally asked me why I called him that. So I told him, because you’re so damn good-looking you should be playing a cop in a Hollywood movie. He laughed and told me if I thought his ugly mug was good-looking I needed my eyes checked. I’ve got so many fond memories of him. My last memory is of N being wheeled on our ED stretcher to his room in CCU, he said “Hey M, how you doing?” I said “Better than you,” which he laughed at and said he was doing fine. Within hours this incredibly strong, healthy, vital, young man was intubated and shipped to a major hospital for advanced care. In less than twenty-four hours, N had died.

I’m so sad. I’ll always remember you Hollywood.

August 22, 2008 – 113 out of service. Catch you later Nelson.